Congo Airways (8Z, Kinshasa N'Djili) is considering basing an aircraft out of Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo to expand its regional network in Western and Central Africa, Forbes has reported.

"We want to open also Abidjan [in Côte d'Ivoire] and Libreville Leon M'Ba [in Gabon], but according to our study, we must connect Libreville to Brazzaville. If the aircraft goes from Brazzaville to Libreville, Douala, Cotonou Cadjehoun, and Abidjan it will make a nice job," Chief Executive Officer Désiré Balazire Bantu said.

The carrier is also studying a route from Bangui in the Central African Republic to Brazzaville.

Balazire Bantu did not specify whether the airline would base an A320-200 or a Dash 8-400 in the Congo. The airline operates two units of each type.

Congo Airways operated international services to Cotonou and Douala but dropped them due to low demand. According to the ch-aviation capacities module, the carrier's current international network includes just two routes from Kinshasa N'Djili and Lubumbashi to Johannesburg O.R. Tambo.

Kinshasa and Brazzaville are located 26 kilometres apart on opposite banks of the Congo River. However, due to the expanse of the river, which exceeds 2 kilometres in width, and a lack of bridges the two cities depend on ferries for connectivity between them.

Air Côte d'Ivoire (HF, Abidjan) and Mauritania Airlines (L6, Nouakchott) already operate from Brazzaville to Abidjan, Afrijet Business Service (J7, Libreville Leon M'Ba) and Mauritania Airlines - to Libreville, RwandAir (WB, Kigali) - to Douala, and Mauritania Airlines - to Cotonou.

The Republic of Congo - but not the DR Congo - is a signatory of the Single African Air Transport Market.